


You Could Be Happy

by caixa



Series: Short, sweet and sour: song fics and random prompts [1]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: COVID-19, Columbus Blue Jackets, Exes, Fluff, M/M, NHL Trade(s), New Jersey Devils, Pining, Post-Break Up, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27209614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caixa/pseuds/caixa
Summary: They have both moved on but the friendship stayed alive, that’s the only way to remain sane when you keep playing on the same team.
Relationships: Boone Jenner/Ryan Murray
Series: Short, sweet and sour: song fics and random prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986439
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	You Could Be Happy

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted here and on Tumblr, based on a song prompt, You Could Be Happy by Snow Patrol.

* * *

_R._

Ryan pinches his mask to make sure it sits snugly over the bridge of his nose, greets the cab driver and lifts his suitcase in the trunk. It has what he needs to settle in New Jersey; the rest of the stuff will be taken care of by the moving company.

He doesn’t have to check his phone to remember the last text he received by heart.

_Sucks that I can’t see you off in person, have a safe flight_

* * *

_B._

Boone would have wanted to hug Ryan for goodbye so bad. For physical guys – surprise, that’s what professional athletes tend to be – expression and affirmation of one’s feelings comes often easier with touches and gestures than words. How would you even put a goal celebration in words? Except the usual shouted _Fuck yes_?

But he has to stay in, quarantine in self isolation until the result of his latest test comes.

He thinks of the warmth of Ryan’s body in his embrace, a muscle memory from years back. They have both moved on but the friendship stayed alive, that’s the only way to remain sane when you keep playing on the same team.

Moved on – in courteous, tiptoed steps. If Boone didn’t know Ryan so well, he probably wouldn’t even have noticed the _thing_ he had going on with his new D-pair, the soft-faced Finnish kid.

Now Nuti is traded away, too. Somehow Boone feels a survivor’s guilt in the situation, being the one out of the love triangle (that never even was a love triangle) who got to stay in Columbus.

* * *

_R._

_Have a safe flight_ sounds so tamed, so lame coming from someone who was such a boisterous and warm presence in Ryan’s life when they shared a home. Warm in a way that, eventually, burned sometimes too hot, consumed all the oxygen around them. If they had been more heedful of taking their personal space during their year together they might not have had to part.

But, in the end, what-ifs are futile. It’s obvious now that they work better as friends.

* * *

_B._

Boone’s phone buzzes with a text message. The five-digit sender number looks strange but as soon as he taps the message open he realizes: it’s from the laboratory, he’s clean, the test came out as negative.

He checks the time, then the flight schedule.

Damn, he might still make it.

He grabs the envelope from the side table by the door before grabbing his car keys.

He hugs Ryan by his gate, the elastic bands of their masks almost get tangled, and Ryan is called for the last time.

Boone hands him the envelope.

“I was going to mail this to you but now I don’t have to. Don’t open it until you get there, okay?”

* * *

_R._

Ryan rips the soft envelope open before the plane has even taken off the ground, the thick brown paper, the bubble wrap lining. He pulls out a thin book, the cover is dark blue, familiar from the jerseys he is leaving behind. The cover looks empty, is it a notebook? He turns it around, there’s one line of text on the other cover, neat silver letters.

**Recipes**

He opens the book, recognizes the handwriting and smiles. There’s only one recipe, and he smiles wider, and this is the kind of smile that, after a while, makes him wipe his eyes and press his palm over his mouth.

_Meatloaf and Sauce._

*** The end ***

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feedback welcome.
> 
> I'm [caixxa](https://caixxa.tumblr.com) and [ badhockeymom](https://badhockeymom.tumblr.com) on Tumblr.


End file.
